Calf Eye / Caught by the River

 

 

 

Calf Eye

A crowd of gawkers stood around to watch
a digger lift the dead calf from the beach.

A Devon Red, its beaten hide sand-caked,
twisted legs flung out, looking like it might

have dugs its way up from some darker place
to die, satisfied, in ozone and light.

The driver heel-screwed his cigarette,
climbed in the cab and turned toward the calf.

One clouded eye stared up, pointing blindly
at the canvas sky. A polished pebble,

quartz and slate embedded in a slab
of sand and hair. An eye that once looked

through a thin fence without understanding.
The digger chuntered in. We turned aside.

                           -8-

Delighted to have my poem Calf Eye picked up by Caught By The River for their excellent and inspiring site  www.caughtbytheriver.net

Thanks to The Clearing/Little Toller where it was originally published earlier this year (see post below)